


Memory in Motion

by enenrayokai



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Leverage
Genre: M/M, Past Spencer Reid/Eliot Spencer, Reid Can Fight, Spencer Reid-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:09:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27625870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enenrayokai/pseuds/enenrayokai
Summary: Spencer Reid was different now. The days he had worked with Eliot Spencer had been nasty and dirty. They had been stuff of nightmares and yet he had done it. Even more, he had survived it. He had been a fighter, and he hoped to never be again.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid/Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 69





	Memory in Motion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PainInSilence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PainInSilence/gifts).



> Writing prompt for Reid can fight!
> 
> The prompt and reason for his fightings skills really got away from me! Sorry to PainInSilence if this went too far off base for your desired Reid can fight prompt! And the massive delay in this story at all. 
> 
> Definite potential for future chapters if there is interest :)
> 
> Cheers!

It had been years ago since he had needed to fight like this.

Not long enough for the body to forget, but long enough for it to feel different. To be different. Or maybe it was because he was different now. Or trying to be.

What once came so easily seemed weighted down by the life he had decided to live instead.

He was different now in at least the perception and the lies he told himself.

This is what is used to feel like. This is what it had meant to atone. 

Each blow struck perfectly. Precisely calculated and efficient. A dance. A delicate balance between when to defends and when to attack. A dangerous foray into a ballroom tango; one step forward, one step back.

And while Reid had overtaken each attacker one by one, the team stood froze. Guns ready but wavering. 

They had wanted to help, but realized help had not been warranted. Because before them, was something beautiful. Something stunning in it's perfection.

The way Reid moved was like perfection in motion. A living live stream of perfect ease and calculated risk. Graceful steps, swift movements.

And then it had been over, and the room held the tension that had grown with each body that hit the floor.

Unease settling thick in the stomach's of every agent in the room who bared witness to the strange release and control of violence. Violence from a man believed to be docile, vulnerable, weak.

"Spence?" Hotch had called. Voice tentative and uncertain in a way it never had been before. Reid had put that uncertainty there. He had scared him, of course he had.

And the truth of that struck Reid like a swift blow. Well timed and well aimed. And he found himself winded in a way no physical fight could.

This hadn't been Section Chief Aaron Hotchner asking about what the hell was happening. This was Aaron, the man he had promised everything to.

The man Spencer Reid had promised to love, to cherish. And had received in return. The man he was willing to give effort for, because love isn't easy. It was effort.

And in that single name, Reid heard the plea. The question and the concern.

"Aaron." Had been his simple reply. An unspoken promise. And the word rippled throughout the room.

Exposing something vulnerable and real.

"Wait, what?" And then the silence had been broken.

A string of confusion, the voice of JJ. Tone harsh but also worried. A cry from Garcia riddled with the emotions she felt. A string of litany from Morgan concern morphed into anger. Questions and assumptions from Prentiss. Tone knowing but also curious. And silence from Rossi. He brows strung low in concentration.

And not for the first time, Reid wondered how he was going to explain this one. Because the story was long, and the tales were bloody.

But before a word could be uttered of explanation, the voice of a stranger to all but one interrupted the silence.

"Reid." The word had been a huff. Caught in the air briefly as the man took a breath out after seemingly running there.

The stranger took a quick inventory of the area and let out a laugh, a crescendo. The gruff edge portraying just how dangerous this man could be. He stance loosened slightly and his eyes sparkled with amusement.

Still he held a tension that simmered beneath the surface. A coiled violence raging within, screaming and tugging to be released. 

This again was a dangerous man. 

And the way his bod language mirrored that of Reid's at the moment was sobering for the team.

Spencer Reid was a dangerous man. Just as this stranger was, Reid held something eager and easy with violence. Something dark and secret. Something hidden.

Standing before them they realized wasn't the man they thought. Where they once saw vulnerability they now saw grace. Where they once saw weakness they now saw hidden strength. A body able to take the punishment and able to repay the favor.

The team saw a stranger with the face of a friend

But Hotch saw a stranger with the face of a lover.

Hotch took a strangled step forward only to be blocked by the man who had spoken moments before. To the man who held Reid's gaze.

And then Reid laughed. Long and drawn out, deep and rumbling like an oncoming storm. A manic smile crept upon his features. Beaten and bloody, Reid had been standing before them laughing in the face of unconscious bodies upon the floor.

Who was this man who looked like Spencer Reid?

"Eliot." Reid acknowledged. His tone affectionate but cautious. A strange dichotomy of harsh and soft.

"And you would be?" Rossi questioned. A practical voice in a sea of confusion. 

"Well, we'd be the calvary sir." Eliot replied.

"Not that this boy needs one anyway." Tone light, holding a tint of amusement. And then Eliot laughed too.


End file.
